The first part of this guide gives general instructions, while the last section contains a list of appendices that give more detailed installation notes for specific system configurations and other less common uses of the software.

(*) – MariaDB, a GPL fork of the MySQL code by Monty Widenius, the founder of MySQL, is an alternative and can also be used by MediaWiki. Debian/Ubuntu repos.

Summarized installation guide

Warning about webhost auto-installers

Programs provided by webhosts to automatically install applications such as MediaWiki can, and frequently do, mishandle the process, resulting in errors and a failure to install MediaWiki (or another application for that matter). If you encounter this problem, it does not mean that you cannot install MediaWiki; all it means is that you should do it manually. This is very easy and there are benefits to doing this, including more control over where on the server and file path you want to install it, the ability to use a shared database, or the ability to control more features of the wiki during the installation.

For experienced users, here is the quick version of the installation instructions. Most users will want to go through all the passages.

Point your browser to the directory where MediaWiki was extracted and follow the link to the setup screen. It should be in the form http://[domain]/[directory]/mw-config/index.php. Replace [directory] with the path to your extracted MediaWiki folder. If installing on a local machine, replace [domain] with [localhost]. A locally installed wiki will need the LocalSettings.php modified from [localhost] to [domain] if you will ever be accessing the wiki from that domain. If installed on a remote server, replace [domain] with your server's domain name (eg: www.myserver.com).

Advanced configuration

Installation assistance

mediawiki-l (Mailing List) is the high-traffic mailing list to ask for support.

MediaWiki Users (Forum) is a user-to-user MediaWiki support forum (offline)

System-specific instructions

The following pages give more detailed installation instructions aimed at specific systems. However, by and large Manual:Installing MediaWiki is more up to date, and better written than the per system docs, and as such it is recommended you first consult the main install instructions before looking at a per system installation documents.